Grundtvig, N. F. S. Uddrag fra Bibliotheca Anglo-Saxonica. Prospectus, and Proposals of a Subscription, for the Publication of the Most Valuable Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts, Illustrative of the Early Poetry and Literature of Our Language. Most of Which Have Never Yet Been Printed

↩ If, however, it should appear—as experience will clearly prove—that these very Anglo-Saxons have exercised a far greater influence over the modern 22
civilized world, than even their illustrious descendants; and if the literary relics of this people form some of the most invaluable documents and records we possess for the Universal History of mankind—then, I say, it will be still more astonishing that a nation, so acute and so enlightened as the English, should have chanced to overlook a source from whence they might have derived both credit and profit to themselves. And if, again, this 4Anglo-Saxon literature, far from being the dull and stupid trash which some English writers of no small name have chosen to suppose, should of itself make up a body of amusement and instruction, deserving, on its own account, the attention and admiration of cultivated minds, it may be no fantastic hope of mine, perhaps, that 📌England will one day regret the neglect and unkindness she has shown to her high-born and honourable kinsmen, and atone for it by ‘one stride equal to many mincing steps.’